ninth inning

Freddie Freeman battled in the batter’s box.

No stranger to coming through in a big moment, the Dodgers star was hoping to see a fastball up in the zone from Angels reliever Kirby Yates.

So Freeman stayed patient, working his way into a full count.

Then Yates gave him what he wanted — and Freeman delivered the 20th walk-off hit of his career.

The Dodger Stadium crowd erupted in celebration as Freeman watched the ball soar over the right-center field wall in the ninth inning of a 1-0 victory over the Angels.

Freddie Freeman hits a walk-off home run for the Dodgers in a 1-0 win over the Angels at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

Freeman grinned as he rounded the bases. He threw a thumbs up at his teammates before they swarmed him in celebration. He finally had given the Dodgers something to cheer for after being held to just two hits over 25 at-bats.

“I’ve been feeling good lately,” Freeman said. “I was tweaking things early on, just trying to find a consistent feel for things. Sometimes it’s just get a couple of hits, get confidence and get going. Nothing really crazy. It’s the same routine, hitting some soft line drives at the shortstop, and things have been working.”

Through most of the game, the excitement was contained to a pitcher’s duel — a chess game of defensive plays, waiting to see who flinched first.

Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki was red hot in what would tie for his longest outing of the season. Sasaki, for the first time this season, threw triple digits in back-to-back appearances, topping 100.6 mph. The Japanese pitcher threw all three of his pitches harder than his yearly average.

Freddie Freeman watches his walk-off home run clear the wall in right-center field to cap a 1-0 win over the Angels at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

“I’ve been experiencing a lot of good and bad since 2024,” Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo. “But I feel like I’m able to maintain this velocity. I think I’m confident about that, but I’m just keeping working on it to make sure I’m in a better place.”

With the speed uptick, Sasaki has also seen an inverse downtick in the earned runs column on his statline. His monthly ERA reached its zenith at 7.23 in his April starts, descending to its current 4.03 ERA.

In Sasaki’s best starts, the elevated velocity and pitch mix makes the right-hander lethal, giving him extended runway to pitch further into the game. Against the Angels (24-40), the elevated velocity allowed him to throw 4⅓ hitless innings in his career-high 11th appearance of the season. He pitched seven innings, giving up two hits and two walks while striking out 10.

It’s a return to how Sasaki looked when he played in Japan, manager Dave Roberts said. Confidence might be the clearest sign things are clicking. Sasaki thumped his chest after striking out Adam Fraizer in the fifth inning, a rare show of emotion.

“I certainly think we can all agree that the floor for Roki is much higher, and the expectation every time he takes the ball is high, and he’s earned that,” Roberts said. “If you look at the last six or seven stats, it’s been as good as any starter in the big leagues in the consistency of performance. So really proud of him and I know that he wants more, and the floor has just been raised.”

Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki delivers in the first inning of a 1-0 win over the Angels at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Some quick thinking from second baseman Miguel Rojas also helped preserve Sasaki’s strong start. On Nick Madrigal’s sharp line drive in the third inning, the pitcher reached for the ball and popped it up with the tip of his glove. The ball ricocheted off its intended course, but Rojas nabbed it with his bare hand, throwing it to first where a lunging Freeman caught it. The play was initially ruled as an infield single, but it was overturned on review.

“When it hits off a pitcher — you’re already going, committed to one way, then you gotta make another,” Freeman laughed. “The old guy’s still got it.”

Madrigal would break the Angels’ hitless run in the fifth with a double off the left-field wall. But, he was left stranded when Sasaki induced a groundout before his strikeout of Frazier.

The Dodgers (41-23) didn’t fare much better against Angels starter Reid Detmers. In the fourth, Freeman singled and moved to third on a forceout on Kyle Tucker. But, with two outs on the board, Will Smith struck out.

Andy Pages squandered a potential scoring opportunity when he was caught stealing in the sixth. The center fielder, who went one for four, has struggled at the plate in recent games. Against Arizona this week, Pages batted .176, collecting only three hits.

As the innings dragged, both the Dodgers and the Angels failed to find momentum. Reliever Chase Silseth took over in the seventh for Detmers, who gave up just two hits, walked two and struck out six. Silseth silenced the opposing batters, issuing only a walk to Smith.

Edgardo Henriquez took over in the eighth, striking out the first two batters he faced. Then, he hit Zach Neto with a pitch, and after Neto stole second, the Dodgers found themselves in a precarious position with Mike Trout at the plate. Not for long, though, as Henriquez struck out Trout.

Roberts, who had watched Rojas and Santiago Espinal go a combined 0 for 4, pinch-hit for both in the eighth. To a roaring applause, Max Muncy entered the batter’s box, his first plate appearance since a scary collision with the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Ildemaro Vargas on Thursday. Muncy, though, went down swinging.

Tanner Scott took the mound in the ninth a day after he gave up a walk-off home run to Arizona’s Ketel Marte. Jo Adell hit a one-out single then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Donovan Walton. Roberts then put Blake Treinen into the game, and he got Oswald Peraza to ground out to first.

With Freeman’s sixth career walk-off home run, the Dodgers beat the Angels for the fourth consecutive time this season.

“Freddie just has aura,” Roberts said. “There’s not too many guys in baseball that you’d want in a game-winning situation, and Freddie does it once again.”

Angels second baseman Oswald Peraza walks back to the dugout after grounding out during the ninth inning against the Dodgers.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — USC couldn’t hold on to the lead Adrian Lopez provided with a home run in the bottom of the eighth Friday night.

Texas State’s Chase Mora greeted reliever Adam Troy with a monstrous two-run home run to left field in the top of ninth inning, propelling the Bobcats to a 5-4 upset before a crowd of 6,956 at Blue Bell Park.

The Trojans had plenty of chances, and they wasted most of them in the opening round of the NCAA tournament’s College Station Regional.

Even though the Bobcats’ shaky defense spotted USC two unearned runs, the Trojans will surely lament stranding runners in scoring position in each of the first seven innings.

The Trojans will face Lamar University, which blew a five-run lead in a 7-5 loss against host Texas A&M, on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT.

If coach Andy Stankiewicz’s Trojans return to the Men’s College World Series for the first time since 2001, the 12-time national champions must do it out of the losers bracket.

USC right-hander Grant Govel, an All-Big Ten First Team selection, settled for a no-decision after giving up three runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts over 5⅔ innings.

He was relieved by freshman left-hander Sax Matson with one on and two outs in the top of the sixth. Matson escaped unscathed in the sixth, but he was relieved by right-hander Andrew Johnson with one on and two outs in the seventh.

The Trojans (43-16), who reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, have lost four of their last five games.

Mora’s sacrifice fly to right field gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead in the second inning. The Trojans countered to tie the score with a run in the bottom of the second.

With runners on first and second and two outs, Abbrie Covarrubias hit a grounder to first. Texas State first baseman Jaquae Stewart booted the grounder for an error, allowing Isaac Cadena to score. Stewart almost made the situation worse with a wild throw to second, but Dean Carpentier was thrown out trying to reach third on the poor throw to second.

The Trojans benefited from more poor defense in the third. With one out in the inning, Augie Lopez reached on an error by Mora at third. Kevin Takeuchi followed with a double off the center-field wall. Jack Basseer broke the tie with an RBI single through the left side.

Covarrubias hit a solo home run to left in the fourth to put USC ahead 3-1. Texas State sophomore shortstop Brady Boles, who entered the regional with only one home run this season and two in his college career, tied the score 3-3 with a two-run home run to left field in the top of the fifth.

Designated hitter Jacob Johnson hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning off Easton Hawk to lift Saint Mary’s to a stunning 3-2 win over top-seeded UCLA in the Los Angeles Regional opener Friday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Johnson’s second solo home run of the game initially only appeared to be a pop-up near the warning track. But as the stadium fell silent, the ball kept sailing — and it eventually cleared the wall over leaping Bruins right fielder Jarrod Hocking.

Saint Mary’s reliever Cam Staton earned the win after getting UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, the expected No. 1 pick in the 2026 MLB draft, to pop out with a runner on first. The right-handed Hawk took the loss.

It marked the first loss by a national No. 1 seed in an NCAA regional opener since the current format was established in 1999.

Hawk previously had given up just three homers on the season and hadn’t surrendered one since March 1 against Mississippi State. Johnson, who went deep to start the day’s scoring in the fourth, recorded his second two-homer game of the season.

UCLA’s Jarrod Hocking strikes out to end eighth inning during a 3-2 loss to Saint Mary’s in the NCAA regionals on Friday.

(Scott Strazzante / For The Times)

Saint Mary’s (35-25) will face the winner of Virginia Tech (2) vs. Cal Poly (3) — who play Friday night — in the winner’s bracket on Saturday at 6 p.m. PDT; UCLA (51-7) will face the loser in the elimination bracket Saturday at 1 p.m.

Friday’s starters, UCLA’s Wylan Moss and Saint Mary’s John Damozonio, dueled. Moss surrendered three hits and one run through five innings, and Damozonio gave up five hits and two runs through seven.

But it was Johnson and the Gaels who survived in the end.

Jeff McNeil hit a tying homer in the ninth inning and Tyler Soderstrom had an RBI single in the 10th to rally the Athletics past the Angels 6-5 on Wednesday night.

The Angels loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 10th but left-hander Hogan Harris got Jorge Soler to ground out, sending the Angels to their 23rd loss in 29 games.

A’s reliever Scott Barlow (1-0) threw a scoreless ninth for the win. Angels right-hander Chase Silseth (1-1) took the loss after giving up an unearned run in the 10th.

The teams combined for eight runs in the first two innings, with the Angels taking a 5-3 lead on Soler’s two-run homer in the first and Jo Adell’s solo shot and Josh Lowe’s two-run drive off A’s starter Aaron Civale in the second.

Soderstrom hit a two-run single in the first, and Henry Bolte scored when Lowe misplayed Carlos Cortes’ single to left field in the second.

Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz walked four and hit a batter with a pitch in the first two innings, but the right-hander retired 12 straight batters — six by strikeout — from the third through the sixth before handing the ball to the bullpen.

Mike Trout rounds second during the first inning Wednesday.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

Angels reliever Ryan Zeferjahn plunked two batters in the seventh, and Sam Bachman gave up an RBI single to Nick Kurtz, trimming the Angels’ lead to 5-4.

Bachman retired the side in order in the eighth, but Kirby Yates couldn’t convert his first save opportunity for the Angels, as McNeil led off the ninth by curling his second homer inside the right-field foul pole, tying the score at 5.

Cortes walked with two outs and Shea Langeliers was hit by a pitch, but Angels left-hander Tayler Saucedo, called up from triple-A earlier Wednesday, got Kurtz to tap back to the mound to end the inning.